Happy Friday!

Altho this was a short week at work, it was also a bear!  I don't understand WHY, a customer who we've dealt with in the same manner for years - suddenly decides they're going to change the way they do things and what they expect from their carriers (I work for a trucking company) - AND NOT TELL SAID CARRIER!!  Sheesh.  I know my coworkers haven't ever heard that many colorful expletives out of me ever!  GRRRRR.

I didn't make it to my meeting this week, but I'm OK with that.  TOM had been awful. I always have one day that's just crappy and Wednesday was it.  I was going to go to Zumba at the gym but between cramps and sinus issues due to the weather - the best I could do was take the dog for a walk.  We didn't break any speed records, but we did go 1.7 miles! 

I've been concentrating on my Good Health Guidelines last week and this one.  I've gone back to adding my oils into my oatmeal - it mixes right in and I can't even tell it's there. If anything - it makes the bowl easier to rinse out! 

I know I've been sorely lacking when it comes down to getting my fruits & veggies in - so when I made my grocery list out, along with the usual dinner idea list I also wrote down what fruits & veggies I was going to have each day.  It really opened my eyes to how bad I've gotten.  I really don't know why.  It's not like eating fruits & veggies is a hardship!  Especially now with all the fresh goodies in the stores and roadside stands opening up soon! 

My gym membership is up the end of June and while I'm going to miss my Zumba classes, I know I'll be taking lots of walks so it's not like I won't get any exercise.  And mowing the lawn is a 2+ hour ordeal every week.  Depending on next year's schedule with Miss Angela's dance - I'll probably renew my membership next fall.  I'm sure I will.  I saw a glimpse of the summer dance schedule at the studio - the ballet teacher is offering an adult Yogalates class and it happens that same time Angel has one of her required classes - so maybe I'll give that a try!   

Speaking of walking - Miss Rebecca over at Weight Wars is having a June Marathon Challenge.  All I have to do is complete a marathon in June.  I can go a mile a day for 26 days, a 5K 8.5 times or slam out 26 miles all in one day (that ain't happening!)   And I don't run unless something really scary is chasing me.  But I do walk and I think I can easily cover 26 miles in June!   She's giving away a cool medal as incentive and some entries into a Color Run, but since that's in England - I'll just be happy with completing the challenge! 

Have a great weekend!  It's supposed to be sunny & 80* all weekend here.  WOOHOOOOO!

Memorial Day

I don't say "Happy" Memorial Day since this is not a happy day. 

And don't forget - it's not just men and women who have given their lives for this great country. 

This statue honors horses and mules who died during the U.S. Civil War 

Virginia Historical Society, Richmond VA.

U.S. Military Working Dog Teams National Monument

Lackland AFB, San Antonio TX

We visited the Great Lakes National Cemetery yesterday - here's my post about it. 

Friend Makin' Monday - Animals

Happy Monday!  I was sad I missed last week, but Miss Angela & I were driving thru some nasty storms on the way home from Grand Rapids (2+ hours away) where she'd had her Regional dance competition.  On the plus side, every dance that her studio took to Regionals scored high enough to move onto Nationals this summer!!  Woohoo!  So proud of them!!

And this weekend I got a little work done at the local tattoo parlor....

I originally wanted a cat paw print to cover the lower tat, but it would have been a lion print!  So the guy sketched this out for me and free-handed the whole thing in about 90 minutes. I'm quite pleased with it, even if it is a big bigger than I planned when I went in there. 

 Now onto FMM!

If you’ve taken part in FMM before then you are familiar with the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to read and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Animals

1. What is your favorite domestic animal?  I can't pick just one, since we are a bi-petual family. 

Jack the crazy Beagle. 

Chester & Maddie

2. What is your favorite farm animal?  Horses!

 My older sister (on the paint) has had them since I was 2 and on the same token has had the brown horse (that Angel is riding) since Angel was 2.  

3. What is your favorite wild animal?  That's hard to pick a favorite!!  I enjoy most of the critters that visit our yard (not a fan of the skunk!) My favorite ones lately to watch have to be the pair of ducks that clean up under the bird feeder.  The opossum is pretty neat to watch, too. 

4. Which animal describes you the best?  Mama Bear.  I'm pretty chill until you mess with my family, then LOOK OUT!

5. If you were able to come back as an animal which one would it be? A cat.  Who else can get away with being an aloof snob and people love you for it?  Actually, Chester & Maddie are very friendly and lovable critters.  Chester is a better guard animal than Jack is!

6. What do you think about zoos?  The Detroit and Belle isle zoos are pretty open, so they're neat to go to.  No real cages.  So I like them.  The Toronto Zoo is awesome! 

7. What do you think about animals in circuses?  Do they still do that?  I haven't been to a circus since I was little.  

8. Do you have a favorite animal charity you like to support?  The Michigan Humane Society.  I got both my cats from them.  

9. Do you have a favorite ‘animal’ movie?  The Man from Snowy River

It came out in 1982, but its all about horses.  

Have a great week!

I'm back!

Ugh, weigh in was ugly tonight. Up a whole 3 lbs!  I'm pretty sure some of it was water weight, since I could tell that my shoes were tight today.  But I did get to the grocery store tonight and finally get some decent food.  The bowl of cereal I had last night just didn't cut it.  And Tuesday it was Chinese food after 9pm!  

 I need to get my head back in the game - sometimes I completely forget that I'm even on WW !!  I don't know how to remind myself.  I did get a bracelet a few years ago that I should start wearing again.  I got it because I don't normally wear any jewelry other than my wedding & Navy rings and earrings.  So my reasoning was it would hopefully remind me to track and such. 

Tonight's meeting was about the Good Health Guidelines.  It seems a good place to start again.  Once I'm done here, I'm going to plan out my meals for the next week or so.  Randy is out of town til Sunday, so it's just me & Miss Angela for meals. 

I think the Oatmeal hit it right on. 

A-Z Reflections post 2014

Special thanks and shout outs to the hard working peeps that made this challenge happen again this year !!

Bravo!!

I can honestly say that any and all issues I had with the challenge this year were of my own making.  I started out awesome - I started months early & had ideas and links on a spreadsheet for most letters in both blogs (my other is here with a similar post today!!) I signed up with.  I even had drafts pre-scheduled ahead of time with the letters and topic idea. But the actual writing of those posts is a different story.  I know this is the crazy busy time of year with Miss Angela's dance, (comp season = extra classes & rehearsals, etc, etc, etc) so I should have gotten on the ball sooner, especially since I was talking about food and such. I would have liked to make more involved recipes, but I'm rather pleased with the simple ones I did make & post about - since it tended to spotlight the food I was talking about.

Otherwise.  I enjoyed myself.  I didn't get to visit as many blogs as I wanted during the challenge, and while I probably won't do the roadtrip, I will still go thru the sign up and reflections list and keep on visiting.

I do plan on signing up for 2015.  I don't do the Twitter thing or use Facebook for my blogs, but I plan to start using media like Pinterest more.

Friend Makin' Wednesday - Colors

I'm late to the party this week!

Whew, this past weekend was crazy!  Miss Angela had her second dance comp yesterday and it made for a long weekend!  I'm proud that this set of judges liked her duet and they got second place in it!  And first place? Another duet from our studio. So no hard feelings there!

Let me see what I remember - 5th place for small group tap, 3rd place for tap line, and for some reason I don't know small group jazz or hiphop or hiphop line. Doesn't matter - they did awesome! According to one of the moms....our studio took 30 dances...14 Platinum, 16 Gold, 12 Division High Scores, 9-1st Overalls, 5-2nd Overalls, 2-3rd Overalls, a 5th Overall, 14 cash awards & 4 specialty awards. Not too shabby!

And this weekend is the "regional qualifying competition" so this is gonna be a big one with lots of stress.  Qualifying dances will go onto nationals and this is the first time their studio has attempted to go!  Send good thoughts & much good mojo to them! 

Pretty proud that I didn't graze off the food table all day.  I did keep hitting the grapes & apples slices and didn't have too many Timbits.  Did plenty of running back & forth to help with costumes and moral support and I did actually RUN from my car at the end of the parking lot in to the auditorium and back, since I forgot my keys to put her stuff away before awards. Nope.  Still don't like it. 

Now onto FMM! 

If you’ve taken part in FMM before then you are familiar with the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links on Sarah's page too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to read and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Colors

1. When you look out of your nearest window – what is the first color you see?  Umm, it's rather late so it's dark out.  And raining pretty hard.  Lightning.  But normally outside this window would be our half-dead cherry tree and part of a big maple.  So blue (hopefully) sky, brownish gray branches and tiny green leaves.

2. How colorful was your last meal?  Not very.  I had a bowl of Life cereal and milk. A typical "I'm home alone and don't care" meal.

3. What color is your car/bike/main mode of transport?  Green.  I currently have a 2000 Ford Escort, but I'm hoping soon to honorably retire it and get a smallish SUV. I thought I had pics, but I only have the bad parts of it for my R for Rust post on the A-Z Challenge.

4. What color clothes are you wearing?  a light blue St. Thomas shirt & gray yoga pants that I wore to the gym tonight. 

5. If you have pets – what color are they?  Jack is a tri-colored Beagle, Chester is an orange tabby and I think the term for Maddie is tortoiseshell.  I have one huge black fish and several smaller silver ones.

6. What color is your hair? Naturally it's mud.  I proudly dye it auburn.

7. What color ink do you prefer to write in?  Blue

8. What color is your favorite sports team?  Need I say more?

9. What color are your favorite pair of shoes?  I just got a pair of "running" shoes since they're lighter for Zumba.  They're black and pink with orange laces.

10. What is your favorite flower and if it comes in multiple colors what is your favorite color?  Oh man.  I have to choose 2.  Soon, my light purple lilac and bright pink crabapple will be blooming - it's the most heavenly scent on my patio!

Love, love love these!!

I took this last spring. 

Have a great week!  I still have to write my A-Z reflections post!  That'll be coming soon, I promise.